


Sunlight for the Shadow

by Clefabled



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, Friendship!!11!!, Implied Suicide Attempt (?), Implied/Referenced Suicidal Thoughts, Nara OC - Freeform, This whole thing is kind of bad sorry, Uchiha OC, oc x oc - Freeform, other ocs mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 12:23:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21161612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clefabled/pseuds/Clefabled
Summary: Shikamei Nara, owner of an unchanging face and unwavering spirit, tasks herself with getting to the bottom of why her friend Aya is struggling; after basically breaking into her house, she finds a note that shatters her calm, and saves a life.~This is my first serious Naruto-based work (even though I've been in the fandom off and on for like six years), and I'm aware Uchiha OCs are disliked, but I wrote one anyway yatta,,Anyway please enjoy I guess





	Sunlight for the Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing is basically me attempting to make my ancient Uchiha OC less of a Mary Sue and actually give her some friends,,   
I really like both Naruto and Boruto's Ino-Shika-Cho teams so I made the other main character a Nara and uh...yeah this is kind of terrible but I liked it so here, Naruto OC literature

The air blew cold through the apartment building’s halls. It was if the tortured souls rumoured to inhabit it were all swarming the outsider, determined to drive her away; but Shikamei was not an easily deterred woman. She was hell-bent on finding…whatever was hidden in that tiny, three room complex.  
Radiators began to clatter as her sandals pressed on up the cheap, rusted staircase, like bells of doom. Not even for a second did fear cross her features, though she held her coat closer as she ascended towards the endless void of the penultimate floor.  
It was obvious that this place had long been abandoned. After all, it was the home of the incredibly ill-fated Team Showakusei, a team of three puppets for a truly tyrannical man, of which the only survivor simply changed puppeteers; or rather, that was the common interpretation. One, a young Junji Iida, gave up the life of a shinobi to instead travel the world, his name lost to all but those who knew him; and the other…was the owner of the abode she was hastily approaching.  
She appeared and disappeared like the seasons, phasing in and out of lives like a phantom, never failing to leave an impact. The look in her eyes was haunting, as if the souls of the dead had taken her as their vessel, as if…they had something to hide. Her name was Aya, an Uchiha, though nobody knew her as such anymore; she was simply Aya Hanamaru, a quiet Jonin teacher who appeared to have nothing special to show to the world. Like the sweetest of dango impaled with a bitter undertone; addictive and enticing and yet, ultimately incorrect in some way, hidden beneath an anko-flavoured glaze of beauty.  
The carpet beneath her feet was vile, obviously supposed to be pure white, but over time stained with a million things that nobody was bothered to attempt to scrub out, instead pretending it wasn’t there as it lay decaying in the dark hallway. Shards of what was once a chandelier lay lazily across the ground, reflecting the very faint moonlight up onto the tarnished door numbers, some of which had also given up hanging on and fallen.  
“Two-hundred and seven, two-hundred and eight,” Shikamei murmured, her soft breaths shifting the layers upon layer of dust ever so slightly, her feet softening the time-stiffened carpet, “two-hundred and nine, and…ah, two-hundred and ten.”  
Her gloved hand went immediately for the handle, but for some strange reason, she found herself hesitating. This whole time, she’d been entirely confident about this, but…she was breaking in, and to a very private woman’s home, at that.  
But she shook her head, turning it; and as her teammates had said, it opened without any effort at all.  
Inside, Shikamei found a completely innocent living room; the sofa was worn with age, but unlike outside, it appeared to be out of love, covered with soft blankets and pillows. A bouquet of fresh lilies sat idly in the moon-shaped vase on the coffee table, along with the only mess in the room, a single coffee cup patterned with leaves.   
The carpet was far softer inside, and Shikamei removed her sandals to make sure it was kept so; walking across it barefoot was warm and comforting, distracting her from the clattering outside, from the ghosts thought to inhabit the place.  
Unlike the living room, the kitchen had something…off about it. It was equally as pristine, but half-cut tomatoes were left on a chopping board on the counter top, and one of Aya’s many coats, soaked from the rain, hung over the back of a chair, which Shikamei knew would slowly ruin the beautiful wood. Another chair, toward the back of the table, was pulled out ever so slightly, as if she’d been preparing to sit down there; a placemat also sat just in front of it, prepared with chopsticks and a cup of water, which was all incredibly odd.  
Finally, Shikamei’s eyes fell onto a piece of paper stuck to the wall poorly, with kanji that were obviously written by Aya’s hand; though the ink had smudged ever so slightly onto the curtains, it was still legible, and Shikamei felt a burning compulsion to read it, almost as if it was decreed by fate.  
“Shikamei: I’m aware you’re on your way here, and so, I felt it necessary to write this for you. The front door was left open for you, but the bedroom door and thus access to the balcony are cut off. Please do not attempt to get in. I don’t want to dampen Chojun’s wedding festivities any more than I already have; or dampen anything else, for that matter.  
Yours,   
Aya.”  
Alarm bells immediately started ringing in Shikamei’s head, and before she could even comprehend it, she was running at every door she could see; time and time again, they opened, revealing rooms she wasn’t interested in. The bathroom, the pantry, the storeroom…worry began to take over, and after what felt like an eternity of falling into the wrong place, she finally found a locked door.  
Without a second thought she burst through it, too stressed to even unlock it neatly with a Shadow technique, and fell face-first onto the floor.  
“Shikamei?! But the note--!”  
“Damn the note,” Shikamei huffed uncharacteristically, leaping up from her pile of shame onto her friend, “I needed to know that you were alive. God, you worried me!”  
Aya jumped a little in surprise as the usually incredibly taciturn, non-affectionate kunoichi held her close; but in seconds, she relaxed. It was nice, to be held, to…be worried about.  
“Shikamei, I—I’m sorry about all of this,” Aya murmured, her sobs only muffled by sheer effort, “but I know I upset you all. I-I’ve been struggling to keep myself in check as of late, and—“  
“So you wanted to leave,” Shikamei replied, sighing, “I think I get it, a little. But…if you ever pull this again, I’ll kill you myself, okay?”  
Aya managed a small giggle, “you really could, so…!”  
“That’s not a promise to not do it again,” Shikamei urged, holding Aya tighter, “promise me. Promise me for sure.”  
“I…I promise,” Aya lied, eventually stifling another sob as she spoke, “but…I can’t. I can’t do this anymore. My students are grown, my only relative is all-powerful, and all of you are—“  
“Aya, all of that is not a death warrant for you,” Shikamei said firmly, “there’s always something to live for. Things to do. It’s superficial, but…well, I suppose there’s a person out there somewhere who’d marry you, to make you happy. Stay alive to pave the way for the future, Aya. Be whoever you damn well want to be.”  
“It being superficial is exactly the reason I’d hate to marry some man, I’d feel like a trophy wife,” Aya admitted, sighing again, “I don’t want a huge wedding like Chojun, and…I couldn’t bear to let my own children enter the world of shinobi! Watching Koharu and Sasuke grow up in this place was bad enough, but my own child--!”  
“I never specified a man, Aya,” Shikamei chuckled, sitting up a little, “not even once.”  
“Then what did you--?”  
“You never stop being cute,” Shikamei shook her head, “the answer’s right here, you know.”  
Aya thought for a second, trying desperately to piece it together—  
A sigh left Shikamei’s lips.  
“I love you, Aya Uchiha.”  
~  
“Shikariko, it’s time to get up!”  
Shikamei felt a smile tug at her usually taciturn expression as her wife urged their daughter to awaken from her nest, her naturally soft tone not the most effective.  
She couldn’t help but admire her as she sighed at the door; how her jet black hair flowed like water down the curve of her back, how her eyes twinkled like diamonds, filled with far too much joy for seven AM…and this beauty still shone like the sun, even while she was in her threadbare old pyjamas and bunny slippers.  
“I’m getting there, mom, I promise…” Shikariko yawned from within, sounding far more asleep than awake.  
Aya rolled her eyes, finally yelling, “you have five minutes to be out and dressed, or I’ll eat your dango—“  
And in seconds, a girl came rocketing out from the pit of hell like a whippet, claiming her plain dango from the table before Aya could even say ‘good morning’.   
A gentle laugh left Shikamei as her daughter devoured the sweets, sitting back eventually, proud of herself; like her, well, other mother, her hair was a beautiful jet black and kept long, but she’d gotten Shikamei’s chocolatey eyes. Shikamei thanked the stars every day that Shikariko had gotten Aya’s gentle but sweet temperament; if the girl’s grandfather had had to deal with another unchanging face, he’d have lost it, Shikamei was sure.  
“So, are you excited to start training, Shikariko?” Shikamei asked, absentmindedly eating the rest of the dango herself.  
“Mm-hm! Lady Koharu said that I’m gonna be a great kunoichi, so I’ve got to live up to her standards—“  
Aya almost choked on her apple, still finding that title for her ex-student strange, and also worried at her daughter’s enthusiasm.  
“Don’t get hurt, okay? Oh, and don’t be too quiet, and don’t forget your lunch, and—“  
“I’ll be fine, mom, I swear!” Shikariko giggled, leaping to her feet once again, “well, I think it’s time I head out! Make sure mom’s okay without me, ‘kay, mama?”  
Shikamei nodded, fighting laughter as her wife yelled her embarrassment after her daughter.  
The Nara clan symbol on her back soon became invisible as she disappeared into the ether, not to be seen until evening time; Aya let out a sigh, laughing.  
“Aya?”  
“It’s nothing, Shikamei, I just—“ Aya smiled, reaching over to grasp her beloved’s hand, “thank you. For saving me, and for allowing me to have this perfect life with you, and…with our daughter!”  
Shikamei shook her head, pressing a gentle kiss to Aya’s lips, “no, thank you.”  
“For what?”  
“For being the sunlight for my shadow.”


End file.
